1. Technical Field
The present subject matter relates to semiconductor memory, and, more specifically, to controlling an access of a memory.
2. Background Art
Many types of semiconductor memory are known in the art. One type of memory is flash memory which stores charge in a charge storage region of a memory cell. One architecture in common use for flash memories is a NAND architecture. In a NAND architecture, two or more memory cells are coupled together into a string, with the individual cell control lines coupled to word lines. A NAND string may be coupled to a bit line at one end of the NAND string.
Another type of memory is phase change memory (PCM). PCMs utilize a phase change material having a non-conductive amorphous state and a conductive crystalline state. A PCM cell may be put into one state or the other to indicate a stored value.
Many types of memory, including flash memory and PCM may organize the memory cells into an array that may have word lines crossing the array in one direction to select rows of memory cells, and bit lines coupled to a column of memory cells crossing the array in an orthogonal direction. In some cases, a row of memory cells may be accessed simultaneously with their state indicated on bit lines. The bit lines may be coupled to a page buffer to temporarily store the data from a row, and the page buffer may be accessed to retrieve data in smaller chunks, such as a byte, which may be provided at an output of the memory device.